Man and Animal

“To be human is to know the animals and all the creatures of the earth; it is to recognize our responsibility toward these beings, once of the same order as ourselves, but now obliged to live beside us in an incompleteness that never ceases its appeal to human beings—warning us to make ourselves worthy of the trust invested in us.” —Hermann Poppelbaum

What is the historical and evolutionary relationship between human and animal? In this classic text, based on the anthroposophic Spiritual Science, Poppelbaum, a biologist, compares the outer forms of human and animal, revealing the essential differences and contrasting inner experiences.

Drawing a bold and clear delineation between the fundamental nature of human beings and that of animals, Poppelbaum tells us that we are not an accidental outcome of animal development, but the hidden source of evolution itself. He discusses the true relationship of both human and animal to their environment and develops a critique of contemporary theories regarding human and animal evolution. He asserts that, rather than a simple reflex of the nervous system, the human spirit is a microcosmic reflection of the spiritual macrocosm, and that our individual consciousness is a crucial seed for future evolution.